BBM (formerly BlackBerry Messenger) is a data-based instant messaging network that is exclusive to BlackBerry devices. Messages are sent over BlackBerry’s private network, ensuring security and privacy. End users have long enjoyed helpful features such as notifications which show if a message was successfully sent, if it was read, and if the other party is currently typing a response.

Since its inception, BBM has grown in functionality to include groups with shared calendars, lists and files. Application developers can also make their apps BBM-connected in a number of ways, including showcasing their app on a user’s BlackBerry Messenger profile. Music played on a BlackBerry’s native media player can also be optionally shown as a status message on BBM.

BBM has always been a BlackBerry only app, but as announced during BlackBerry Live 2013, BBM officially went cross-platform on Android and iOS on October 21, 2013.

Timeline Beta

If you're looking in the BBM Shop today and happen to spot a "Timed and Retracted Messages" subscription item available but it doesn't work, there's actually a good reason for it. As noted in a new Beta Zone email being sent out, it's in preparation for a new BBM beta build that is set to be arriving this week for those invited to try it out.

Mar 02, 2015
BBM for BlackBerry 10, iOS and Android updates now available

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As expected, thanks to the earlier announcement, BBM has now been updated for BlackBerry 10, iOS and Android. The feature list for this update is rather large and includes custom BBM PINs, Android Wear support, Password protection and landscape mode for iOS users plus, you can now share photos in group chats and have multiple BBM channel contributors. You can have a look at the full rundown below or just head on into your respective app store and grab the update right now.

BlackBerry has announced the arrival of new customization options for BBM. While in testing for awhile, tomorrow, March 2, will see the debut of custom BBM PINs. Also arriving tomorrow is BBM for Android Wear.

To go along with the BBM for iOS update, the BBM team has also rolled out a new update for the BlackBerry 10 as well. This release focuses on key issue that was affecting users and that's notifications not displaying for picture messages in group chats. A small but welcomed updated. It's live right now in the BlackBerry Beta Zone so if you're one of those on the limited beta, go ahead and get your fix. Version will vary depending on OS and device and take note, current chats will be lost by installing this version of BBM.

In addition to the iOS beta rolling out, BBM for BlackBerry 10 is also getting a beta update, that brings both platforms in line with each other. With that being the case, the change log for the BlackBerry 10 release is almost identical so, BlackBerry 10 users will have the option to create a custom PIN, remove ads and have a special badge on their profile picture in BBM.

This one won't come as much of a surprise, given BlackBerry's ongoing efforts to monetize BBM and the fact they announced it at CES, but it's interesting that it has now started to appear. If you're running the beta build of BBM on iOS, the 'No Ad' and 'Custom PIN' options have started showing up in the BBM Shop indicating BlackBerry might soon be ready to push them live or is at the very least testing them out.

Although this announcement might not mean a lot for BlackBerry users, it could come in handy when recommending others to download BBM. BlackBerry has now made BBM available through the Amazon Appstore.

With the last beta version having gone public a few days ago, the BlackBerry Beta Zone has already fired up a new BBM beta putting it into v2.7.0.33. This one isn't a massive update but there's still a few new things on the list to check out plus, some known issues that need to be worked through as well.

Although the majority of users won't be able to take advantage of this one just yet, a new limited BBM beta has been released to the BlackBerry Beta Zone that brings with it some new features for groups and file transfers.

Feb 05, 2015
Celebrate Chinese New Year with two new BBM sticker packs

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The Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival as it's now more commonly referred to will fall on February 19th this year and to celebrate the traditional Chinese holiday the BBM Shop has added some new stickers from Pyi Pyi Family and Pico Candy.

Each year, at Mobile World Congress the Global Mobile Awards are held and with this year's nominees now announced, we know BlackBerry has at least two offerings in the running. For Best Mobile Service or App for Consumers, BlackBerry Blend has been nominated and for Best Security/ Anti-Fraud Product or Solution, BBM Protected has received a nomination. On the QNX side, QNX-Powered System for Virtual Cockpit in the 2015 Audi TT has been nominated in the Best Mobile Innovation for Automotive category.

Jan 27, 2015
Heroes Of The Valiant Universe BBM sticker pack now available

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A little bit of nerdery for comic book fans. Back in 1989, former Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter founded a company called Voyager Communications. Through Voyager Communications, Valiant Comics was started and thus was the beginning of The Valiant Universe. Eventually in 1999, Valiant Comics was discontinued after being bought out by video game company Acclaim but they shut down in 2007. After many legal battles, Valiant Comics began publishing once again in May 2012 and have quickly become popular among fans and critics alike with several of their characters such as X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, Archer & Armstrong, Quantum & Woody and Harbinger.

Jan 23, 2015
Valentine's Day sticker packs now available in the BBM Shop

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It's not yet February, but retailers have already begun gearing up for Valentine's Day so it seems fitting the BBM Shop would be ahead of the game as well. Two new Valentine's Day specific BBM packs have arrived and are available for $1.99 each.

Are you among the many beta testers for BBM on iOS? If so, you'll want to check Test Flight for the latest release. A new update has arrived as v2.7.0.20 and it has a few things for everyone to test out. Some of them are new, some of them apparently may have been reworked and just need more testing. You can have a look at the noted changes thanks to change log from BlackBerry.

BlackBerry has been on a roll with announcing new products and services for Enterprise and if you're looking to learn how they may fit into your environments, BlackBerry is hosting a webcast on January 28, 2015 at 11:00am - 12:00pm EST, to take a deeper look at some of their latest offerings.

Disney and Dreamworks are no strangers to the BBM Shop and both have now expanded their offerings of BBM stickers available. First up is Disney, which has released a brand new Big Hero 6 sticker pack that offers artwork featuring Baymax and Hiro as well as several other characters from the hit movie such as Tadashi and Go Go.

Next up is Dreamworks, which is now offering a Puss in Boots sticker pack featuring characters such as Kitty Softpaws, Humpty Alexander Dumpty and of course, Puss in Boots. You can grab each individual sticker pack for $1.99 each right now from the BBM Shop or jump below to get a closer look at them both.

Jan 16, 2015
The Lord of the Rings BBM stickers now available on the BBM Shop

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Are you a fan of The Lord of the Rings? If so, Bare Tree Media has a new BBM sticker pack that you cannot pass... up. (that was cheesy but I'm not apologizing) For $1.99 you can grab The Lord of the Rings BBM pack featuring several characters from J. R. R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novels including Gandalf, Frodo, Gollum and more from Middle-Earth. You can have a look at the full pack below or hit this link here in your browser to be taken directly to the BBM Shop to purchase it.

PS: 'You cannot pass' is from the book. It was changed in the movie. The more you know. ;)

During CES 2015, BlackBerry decided to go ahead and share some hard numbers surrounding BBM and how it's performing. Taking a look back at the numbers, it's easy to see there were some 'wins' there for BlackBerry and the platform. They showed growth across the board with over 140 million new registrations to BBM from iPhone and Android devices, 70% of users being active daily, and the BBM Shop saw 175 million visitors in the last year. No one buys stickers, right? Well, 300 Million were shared so someone is buying them.

One number that stuck out to me is the number of BBM Channels that were created. According to BlackBerry, there were 1 Million (and counting) channels created. That number seems low to me (it might be good to BlackBerry, I don't know), and I can't help but think it's because BBM Channels hasn't received an update in quite some time. I honestly can't even remember when the last noticeable change in BBM Channels occurred. The only thing I can think of is when Hootsuite integration was added and that wasn't a direct change. If you never used Hootsuite before you might not even know BBM Channels integration exists.

That got me thinking about ways to improve BBM Channels, because as much work as the folks at BlackBerry are doing with BBM, it seems as though BBM Channels is lagging a bit in terms of development and expansion of the product. Maybe it's just not the right time. Maybe an update is coming. But for now, here's a small list of things I and others I asked would like to see added that I believe would help not only improve the experience when using BBM Channels but also make people want to use it more.

Today at CES 2015, BlackBerry announced that Android Wear support will soon be coming to BBM, and we went wrist-on to check out how it works. And, well, it works almost exactly like you'd expect. You get all the appropriate notifications on your connected Android Wear smartwatch (in this case it was demoed on a Moto 360), and the ability to reply.

All BBM

Just a quick heads up for you BBM sticker fans out there. A new pack showed up in the BBM Shop in the past 24 hours which goes by the name of Dumb Ways to Die. It's not all doom and gloom as you may think from it's name and contains some great characters.
I'd not heard of Dumb Ways to Die before, but upon hitting up Wikipedia it appears that the concept was created back in 2012 by Metro...

BBM has a long history of being used in the aid of public safety and a new partnership with the Toronto Police Service and the Missing Children Society of Canada highlights that once again. At an event held in Toronto today, the Toronto Police Service and the Missing Children Society of Canada announced BlackBerry/BBM as the latest addition to their search program, Milk Carton 2.0.
By...

If you're an avid user of BBM Stickers there's a couple stickers that have become available this week. Disney has been busy bringing us plenty of sticker packs. We've even had some sticker packs from DreamWorks and MGM and now Nickelodoen has joined in with the Avatar the Last Airbender sticker pack that includes Aang, Katara and Sokka.
If you fancy something a little more romantic to share...

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has issued security rankings for several popular communication platforms, including Apple's iMessage Google's Hangouts and Skype from Microsoft. Both iMessage and Apple's FaceTime were named as the best mass market options for secure messaging according to the EFF's criteria. These categories include message encryption in transit, independent code review...

The latest update to BBM has arrived and most folks on BlackBerry, iOS and Android have been checking it out over the weekend. Based on feedback I've looked at in the CrackBerry Forums, it seems a lot of people are really liking the new additions and options such as Timed Messages, Message Retraction but as the press release noted upon their arrival, "unrestricted access to these features...

We've already seen one halloween themed BBM sticker pack and today, just in time for celebrations, Disney has released a Mickey's Halloween sticker pack so you can trick or treat with Mickey and Friends. Send a greeting, Mickey pumpkin, party invite and more with his sticker pack. Just like all other Disney BBM Sticker packs, this one costs $1.99. Head on over to the BBM Shop if this pack...

BlackBerry's instant messaging service BBM will be seeing an update across all OS platforms in the next few days. It has been available through BlackBerry Beta Zone for some users from a few weeks now and it now ready for everyone. The most notable new feature is Timed Messages which allows users to send a 'secret' message to a contact for a pre-set duration of time. You will also be able to...

BlackBerry has updated the Windows Phone version of its BBM messenger app, adding improvements to its notifications. a new invite screen and more additions and changes.
Here's the full changelog of what's new in the 1.2.0.12 version
Improved notifications: View a message preview outside of BBM including the sender and chat content.
New emoticons: 16 new emoticons have been added to bring...

It's almost Halloween and to help celebrate the occasion, the BBM Shop has just been loaded up with a brand new Halloween sticker pack. It's a simple pack with spooky houses, ghosts, pumpkins and of course, candy to add some fun to your BBM. Unfortunately, the pack isn't free but it's cheaper than most of the recent packs that have arrived. You can call it yours for only $.99 and it should be...

I guess Shaq is too big of a star to wait until Thursday when the BBM team normally rolls out new sticker packs, because he has now popped up in the BBM Shop all by himself. If you're looking to bring Shaq Daddy to your device along with some of his classic trash talking lines, you'll be expected to throw up $1.99 for the complete set.
Fun facts: Shaq is worth over $350M and earned...

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